to think this Telegraph grammar test is wrong?

[Ogooglebar]

The question is 'can you tell from this sentence what sex Evelyn is?'

"I should like to introduce you to my sister Amanda, who lives in New York, to my brother Mark who doesn't, and to my only other sibling, Evelyn."

I think you can't tell but the Telegraph thinks you can tell that Evelyn is male.

How???

Here's a link to the test if anyone's interested.

[TolliverGroat]

92% (I dithered over #10 and plumped for the wrong option).

[TolliverGroat]

Tom Chivers agrees it's a bit crap

[Fallenangle]

I only got forty something per cent. That was mainly because, by Question 3, I had lost the will to live. Apparently the question setter is vair popular on Radio 5 Live, the home of perfect grammar.

[hackmum]

I consider myself a bit of a grammar nerd, and I agree that this example from the Telegraph is terrible.

A comma does make a difference - so "The author Hilary Mantel said..." means something different from "The author, Hilary Mantel, said..." That second version implies there's only one author, and it's Hilary Mantel. (In fact BBC newsreaders make this mistake all the time, and I find it quite irritating. "The MP, Eric Pickles" rather than "The MP Eric Pickles".

Anyway, all that said, it doesn't apply in the Telegraph example because no-one actually speaks like that in real life. In real life you'd insert a comma for breath.

[Bonsoir]

The sentence lacks clarity (as witnessed on this thread) and therefore, by definition, is not using grammar in an optimal fashion.